Bone Broth Benefits: 11 Proven Reasons You Should Consume It
You’ve likely heard a thing or two about bone broth lately, or at least heard OF it. Today we’re going to talk about bone broth benefits because there are a LOT of them!
This stuff is too delicious, inexpensive, healthy, and EASY to make to not add it to your diet ASAP!
We have recently started eating it EVERY DAY! The crockpot is almost always going in our place, and it fills our home with rich and savory scents!
Maybe it sounds like something akin to a witch’s brew. Perhaps it’s reminiscent of something they would have concocted on Little House on the Prairie (they probably did).
It’s a powerful, healing substance, and it’s becoming more popular by the minute.
Bone broth is a stock made from animal bones.
It sounds so basic; however, this simple soup is full of health benefits, from reducing wrinkles to helping you sleep better.
Learn how bone broth can improve your health today!
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1. Bone Broth is Anti-Inflammatory
Bone broth contains glycine and glucosamine.
According to the Mayo Clinic, Glucosamine is a substance found in humans and animals. Glucosamine helps create cartilage in the body (1).
It has been studied and used for the treatment of inflammatory conditions, such as arthritis, and has been found to reduce inflammation throughout the body (2).
Glycine is a non-essential amino acid that has many protective effects on the body. Researchers have found that it has promising potential for treating inflammatory conditions (3).
Why is it important to keep inflammation down? Inflammation influences just about every facet of your health (4).
Researchers are learning that pain, obesity, thyroid disorders, autoimmune diseases, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and even dental problems are caused by inflammation.
Many foods and medications aggravate inflammation. Bone broth helps reduce inflammation at the root, making you healthier and reducing the trigger for many diseases.
2. Bone Broth Helps You Detox
Because bone broth helps your system get rid of waste, it can also encourage your body to expel harmful toxins. The potassium and glycine in bone broth assist with liver detoxification.
Consuming bone broth also helps you better absorb vitamins and minerals. This may prevent heavy metals from accumulating in your body.
Bone broth also contains glutathione. Stanford researchers have found that glutathione works as an antioxidant and strengthens cells (5). Because glutathione protects the body from oxidative stress, it has powerful detoxifying properties.
3. Bone Broth Supports Weight Loss
Drinking bone broth delivers some protein, which can help you stay full and reduce cravings.
Researcher Ray Peat explains that this type of protein isn’t the same as the kind you get by eating a steak (6). The type of protein found in bone broth can help balance your hormones and regulate blood sugar, which are often issues that contribute to difficulty losing weight.
This WebMD article also points to gelatin, which is found in bone broth, as a compound that can help you lose weight.
4. Bone Broth Improves Bone Health
It’s no coincidence that bone broth can improve the health of your own bones. Bone broth contains calcium, magnesium and phosphorous, which are all great for bone health.
Honestly, though, there is more calcium in a glass of milk!
The Healthy Home Economist says that calcium isn’t the only compound in bone broth that can contribute to bone health. Collagen hydrolysate has proven to prevent loss of bone mass and the collagen that serves as a framework for bones.
Although more research is needed, other studies have found that consuming collagen hydrolysate can prevent the breakdown of collagen in the bones.
5. Bone Broth Improves Joint Health
Studies show that chondroitin and glucosamine, compounds that are found in bone broth, may be just as effective as Celecoxib, an osteoarthritis medication, in reducing pain and symptoms associated with osteoarthritis (7).
Osteoarthritis occurs when the cartilage in the joints begins to wear away. It’s usually caused by age, but it can occur in people in their 30s and 40s too, according to Dr. Kellyann.
Eating bone broth is a way to treat joint pain without the side effects that come with many medications.
6. Bone Broth Helps You Sleep
Sleep is crucial to maintaining optimal health. The body uses the time that you sleep to repair itself and to heal.
Adequate sleep can help you get sick less frequently and even break through weight loss plateaus.
Bone broth contains glycine, which has been shown to help you sleep (8). Taking glycine before bed can also make you feel livelier and more focused when you are awake even if you didn’t get enough sleep the night before.
That beats taking a medication that can cause side effects like grogginess or dependence (or any medication for that matter)!
7. Bone Broth Improves Brain Function
The glycine in bone broth can also improve memory (9).
This is especially helpful if one of your vices happens to be wine (or any alcohol for that matter), like myself!
8. Bone Broth Reduces Cellulite
The gelatin in bone broth can strengthen connective tissue in the body. It’s that same connective tissue that leads to cellulite.
Studies indicate that consuming gelatin can help build up the connective tissue, providing less space for the fat to squeeze through (10). Therefore, the gelatin in bone broth can reduce your cellulite.
9. Bone Broth Prevents Wrinkles
The collagen in bone broth can help prevent your skin from losing its elasticity as you get older.
That’s what happens, you know. As you age, your body loses collagen, which is the scaffold that keeps things taught and plump.
Although some people say that your body processes dietary collagen in the same way as it would process any protein, studies show that people who consume collagen see improvements in their wrinkles, pores and dark spots (11).
10. Bone Broth Fights Infections
A study conducted in the year 2000 found that eating soup made from chicken bones helped reduce inflammation and improve respiratory infection symptoms (12).
I love making soup from chicken bones because buying the whole chicken is FAR cheaper than buying the pieces (especially breasts) separately.
Remember that you are paying for convenience! If organic meat isn’t in your budget yet, buying the organic, whole chickens are the best place to start!
You can justify any additional cost (although it isn’t much thanks to increased demand for better quality meats) by using the entire chicken (giblets included) in a savory bone broth recipe!
11. Bone Broth Heals Your Gut
Gelatin has been used for centuries to soothe the gut and improve digestion. Back in the day, people would make concentrated broth from animal parts like cow hoofs to extract the gelatin.
When you have digestive distress, eating too many foods that are high in carbohydrates leads to fermentation in the gut. Basically, that means that you get gas. Yikes!
The nutrients in bone broth deliver energy that your body can use for fuel without making your intestinal issues worse.
In the book, Eat Right 4 Your Type, by Peter J. D’Adamo, the author explains that adding gelatin to meals that include foods to which your body is sensitive can make them easier to digest. Eating gelatin with a meal can also help you digest raw foods.
A bone broth fast can provide tremendous health benefits.
A good probiotic supplement will also go a long way towards healing your gut, improving your skin, and helping you finally shed that excess weight.
PROBIOTIC
Avocadu’s Gut-13 Probiotics
In a recent study, women taking probiotics lost 50% more weight than those who did not. Your gut health and how well you absorb nutrients MATTERS. Don’t miss out on getting in a daily probiotic. Click here.
In Conclusion
When we talk about bone broth, we are not referring to powdered bouillon or a box of chicken broth that you buy at the store. Healing bone broth must be made from the bones and connective tissue of healthy animals.
While store-bought, organic varieties do exist and contain some health benefits, you won’t get NEARLY the same health benefits as making the stuff yourself at home with some organic bones.
So how do I make bone broth?
We’re working on an article containing a variety of healthy, bone broth recipes, but you can try the two simple recipes below for now!
Chicken Bone Broth
Ingredients:
- One whole chicken carcass, cleaned of most of the meat (organic, if possible)
- Raw giblets (if your chicken came with it)
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- Optional: 2 celery stalks and 2 large carrots, roughly chopped
Instructions:
Place the whole chicken carcass and the rest of the ingredients in a large crockpot. Next, you’ll add water. I have a 7-quart crockpot, and I fill it all the way up to where there is about an inch and a half of space at the top.
If you have a larger crock pot, simply adjust the water. If you have a 10 to 14-quart crock pot, you can even do 2 carcasses at once!
Turn it on high until it boils, and then immediately turn it down to low. Cook on low for 12-48 hours (I usually do 24-48 for the chicken).
Note that you may need to add water to the mixture every few hours because some of it will likely cook out. It just depends on your preference.
You can add some salt in before you start, but it’s plenty rich enough that it really doesn’t need it (and that’s coming from a Cajun Louisiana girl that loves her sodium!).
When it’s finished, a layer of fat will form at the top after it has completely cooled (in the fridge). If you didn’t buy organic chicken, make sure to scoop this layer of fat out before consuming the broth, because artificial hormones, toxins, etc. are stored in the fat of animals.
If you bought an organic chicken, you can leave the fat in or scoop it out and use it to cook with! If you are trying to lose weight, you will likely want to scoop it out to lower calorie intake.
It will make a lot, so freeze leftovers if you can’t eat it all within 3-4 days!
Beef Bone Broth
Ingredients:
- 2-4 lbs beef bones (organic, if possible)
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- Optional: 2 celery stalks and 2 large carrots, roughly chopped
Instructions:
Note that health food stores like Whole Foods often contain bones just for this purpose, but another option is simply to buy some bone-in steaks and use the bones for broth after cooking the meat.
Place the beef bones and the rest of the ingredients in a large crockpot. Next, you’ll add water. I have a 7-quart crockpot, and I fill it all the way up to where there is about an inch and a half of space at the top.
If you have a larger crock pot, simply adjust the water. If you have a 10 to 14-quart crock pot, you can even do 2 carcasses at once!
Turn it on high until it boils, and then immediately turn it down to low. Cook on low for 24-48 hours (I usually do 48 for beef bones, because they are usually much larger).
Note that you may need to add water to the mixture every few hours because some of it will likely cook out. It just depends on your preference.
You can add some salt in before you start, but it’s plenty rich enough that it really doesn’t need it (and that’s coming from a Cajun Louisiana girl that loves her sodium!).
When it’s finished, a layer of fat will form at the top after it has completely cooled (in the fridge). If you didn’t buy organic, make sure to scoop this layer of fat out before consuming the broth, because artificial hormones, toxins, etc. are stored in the fat of animals.
If you bought organic, you can leave the fat in or scoop it out and use it to cook with! If you are trying to lose weight, you will likely want to scoop it out to lower calorie intake.
It will make a lot, so freeze leftovers if you can’t eat it all within 3-4 days!
The longer you cook them, the more healthy goodness comes out of the bones!
If you are looking to truly improve your gut health…
Bone broth will work wonders, but healing your gut is still a process that takes time. Adding in a good probiotic will help you heal your gut even faster!
No matter what supplement you use, you should take AT LEAST 50 billion units of probiotics daily from a minimum of 10 different sources for best results.
While you don’t need to purchase only refrigerated probiotics, make sure the packaging is well sealed. It’s also essential that the packaging is dark (or opaque, not transparent) to protect from light damage.
We have our own brand of Probiotics at Avocadu called Gut-13.
PROBIOTIC
Avocadu’s Gut-13 Probiotics
In a recent study, women taking probiotics lost 50% more weight than those who did not. Your gut health and how well you absorb nutrients MATTERS. Don’t miss out on getting in a daily probiotic. Click here.
Our specially formulated probiotic supplement contains:
- Over 100 Million CFU’s Per Serving
- 13 Different Gut Healing Strains
- Delayed Release for Deeper Support
- Made in the USA
You can read more about it and why it’s so important for not only gut health but overall health on our probiotics page.
Probiotics are one of the best solutions for healing your gut, helping you lose weight faster, and providing you with a healthy source of gut flora every day!
Next, you will need to eat a healthy diet full of whole, natural foods!
Probiotics will help to get your gut started on the right track again, but it won’t make a very big impact if you are still eating a diet full of the WRONG foods that wreak havoc on your gut in the first place.
This is a big emphasis of our 21-Day Fat Loss Challenge as it’s about changing our eating habits and re-learning what we should and should not be eating.
People lose an average of 10-21 pounds in 21 days and absolutely love it! But even better than the weight loss is the feedback we get from people about how the program has taught them how to change their eating habits and find a diet that truly works for them in the long-term.
Please leave me a comment below if you enjoyed this article on bone broth benefits or have any questions!